[Off Topic] Re: [ANNOUNCEMENT] Microsoft to GPL its source code

[William Scott Lockwood III]

This would have been more entertaining had you at least hacked the headers
to make it look like it came from a @microsoft.com email address.  :-)

On Wed, 2 Apr 2003, William Gates wrote:

>
>
>
>
> We have recently chosen to open up our source because it makes good business
> sense for us at this time. Here are some of the reasons:
>
> The availability of the source code and the right to modify it is very
> important. It enables us to tap into the unlimited programming resources
> available to tune and improve our software products.
>
> The right to redistribute modifications and improvements to the code, and to
> reuse other open source code, permits all the advantages due to the
> modifiability of the software to be shared by large communities, communities
> we learned that we need to embrace, under certain conditions.
>
> The point that differentiates open source software licences from our past
> licenses is modifiability. In substance, the fact that redistribution rights
> cannot be revoked, and that they are universal, is what attracts a
> substantial crowd of developers to work around open source software
> projects, and we welcome them.
>
> We have decided that we would like help to improve the quality of our
> products, and to improve their functionality. Which, once more, will cause
> more and more users give the product a try, and probably to use it
> regularly.
>
> Now this is only a temporary GPL. We have slightly modified our licenses to
> open the source for a limited time period. One the time period expires, all
> rights to the code, as well as deriviatives, revert back to Microsoft.
>
> William Gates
>
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